What It Actually Takes to Get a Bank Charter
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Donna Murphy spent two decades inside the OCC, most recently as Deputy Comptroller for Compliance Risk Policy. She's seen what gets an application through and what gets it denied. Join her for a live conversation with Brico CEO and Co-Founder Snigdha Kumar on charter strategy, patient compliance, and the questions every fintech founder should be asking before they file.
Why This Conversation Matters
Bank charters are having a moment. The OCC is open for business again, and every fintech with a payments or lending product is asking the same question: charter, sponsor bank, or state licenses, and when does that decision actually change?
Most of what founders hear on this comes secondhand, from consultants, from Twitter threads, from whoever pitched them last. Donna Murphy ran the OCC's compliance risk policy shop. She's read the denial letters. She knows what "patient compliance" looks like from the regulator's side of the table, not just the founder's.
This isn't a sales pitch. It's 30 minutes of direct Q&A with someone who's seen the full lifecycle, followed by 15 minutes of live questions from the audience.
What You'll Walk Away With
- A real framework for the charter decision. Bank sponsorship, state MTLs, an OCC national charter, or a state charter: how each one actually works, and who each one is actually for.
- What "patient compliance" means in practice. Not a buzzword, a specific standard, and what happens to companies that treat compliance as something to build after the raise.
- What examiners are actually looking for right now. CAMELS ratings, capital plans, AML programs, and the specific gaps that have shown up in the OCC's recent public denial letters.
- A straight answer on timing. Why the next 12 to 18 months matter more than most founders realize, and what changes once you're actually holding federally insured deposits.
Speakers
Donna Murphy
Donna Murphy has more than two decades of public service focused on compliance with federal fair lending, consumer protection, and anti-money laundering laws. She most recently served as Deputy Comptroller for Compliance Risk Policy at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and previously as Acting Deputy Comptroller for the Office of Financial Technology and Director of Community and Consumer Law at the OCC. She also spent years in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. She's a graduate of American University and Yale Law School.
Snigdha Kumar, Brico CEO and Co-Founder: Snigdha led product operations at Digit and Opportun, where she ran headfirst into the same licensing maze Brico now solves, a process she's described as cumbersome, painful, and "without any joy whatsoever." She holds a Master's in Public Policy Analysis from Harvard Kennedy School and sits on the Financial Innovation Advisory Board at the New York State Department of Financial Services, advising regulators directly on where technology can responsibly modernize financial oversight.
Why Brico Is Hosting This
Brico builds the compliance and licensing infrastructure that fintechs use to launch, expand, and stay in good standing across all 50 states. Part of doing that well is staying close to the people who write and enforce the rules, not just the software that tracks them.
Donna Murphy joining this conversation is one example of that. It's also why we started this webinar series: to put direct, regulator-level insight in front of the founders and compliance teams making these calls every day, without the filter of a press release or a secondhand summary.
Agenda Snapshot
- Welcome and introductions (5 min)
- Planned Q&A with Donna and Snigdha (30 min): patient compliance, OCC charters, what founders get wrong
- Live audience Q&A (15 min): bring your questions, submitted live via chat
- Close and resources
FAQ
- Who is this for? Fintech founders and COOs weighing a bank charter against staying licensed as a money transmitter, plus compliance leaders who need to defend or refresh their company's compliance posture to a board, investor, or regulator.
- Is it really free? Yes. No cost to attend.
- Will there be a recording? Yes. Everyone who registers gets the replay, whether or not they attend live.
- Can I submit a question ahead of time? Yes. You'll be able to submit questions when you register, and Snigdha will pull additional questions live from the chat during the event.
- How long is it? 45 minutes, including live Q&A.